Earlier this week, Volkswagen announced plans to augment its in-car voice assistant IDA with ChatGPT. I'll admit that I initially didn't quite understand the point, but I got a chance here at CES 2024 in Las Vegas to hear about the vision for this integration from Cerence, the company that already powers the back-end of VW's voice assistant. As usual, it's a bit of a rough demo, because it's hard to exactly see how ChatGPT will help you out when you're on the road when you're instead sitting in a stationary car inside of a convention center. But conceptually, the idea behind bringing ChatGPT into a car is all about avoiding a "dead end" when you as IDA something, Cerence told us. Drivers don't need to do anything different -- you just say "Hello IDA" or press the voice assistant button on the driver's wheel and start talking. And if there's something that IDA doesn't know, it'll check with ChatGPT.

You approach the car with arms full of groceries and call out, "Open the tailgate!" On the road, as snow builds, the vehicle asks if you'd like to engage four-wheel drive, which you do by saying "yes." Wondering what that digital warning symbol is on your dashboard? The car can explain as you drive. The technology behind these scenarios is expected to make its way into cars in the next year or two, as auto makers expand voice capabilities and allow users to control more of the car through spoken word.

Looking back at 2021 it was a different kind of year for voice AI than in the past. We could have said that in 2020 as well, but that was true on every societal and economic level due to the pandemic. However, we saw the seeds of change in the voice AI industry in late 2019 that was paused briefly and then accelerated in 2020 which set up 2021 to be the year of enterprise adoption. Voice AI news, innovation, and investment were largely driven by consumer applications in the period 2016 – 2019. Amazon, Google, and Apple (and occasionally Samsung) dominated the headlines related to the technology.

Cerence is offering innovative artificial technology for the automotive industry. Read what this means for CRNC stock.

BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNC), AI for a world in motion, today announced it is now a resident partner of Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, an academic institution dedicated to supporting researchers specializing in the field of deep learning. The partnership enables Cerence and Mila to further research and advance cutting-edge work in machine learning and enhance automotive AI applications. As part of the relationship, Cerence researchers will work with Mila interns on projects and contribute to research, publications, and presentations in an AI lab at Mila's Montreal headquarters, just a short distance from Cerence's Montreal office, one of its key global R&D sites with nearly 450 employees. "As we continue to advance our research agenda and begin our new journey as Cerence, we are thrilled to have Mila as a resource," said Udo Haiber, Senior Vice President, Research & Development at Cerence. "Our automotive-focused R&D team and their decades of experience have put us at the forefront of innovation in the car, together with the world's leading automakers. Our new alignment with Mila will enable us to work more closely with academic AI researchers worldwide to continue to revolutionize the in-car experience, especially as we approach the horizon of autonomous vehicles."